Spheres and Warhosts
Over two hundred ships were in orbit around the Darik, from the smallest Il’Emaar Courier, all the way up to the huge Or’es El’leath Battleships, and everything in between. All in all, it was a mighty armada, the colours of the Pa’Laa sept resplendent on their hulls, and still, few of the commanders had any Illusions that the war would end in the void. They had all read the reports, and they all knew the plan. Not that any of them liked it of course.
“We’re bait, you know that Sir,” a Kor’El pointed out as he moved to stand beside his O.
“Of course, enough ships to draw the enemy in, not enough to stop them,” the O nodded, his lips a thin crease. “If the entire fleet was here then the enemy would go around and strike at other vulnerable areas, forcing us out.”
“I’ve read the plans, sir,” the El continued, dropping his voice so only the Admiral could hear him. “Which is why I question again why you are here? These ships are all but certain to be destroyed in the enemy first wave. Should you not be taking command of the second wave, your experience and skills there will be invaluable surely.”
“Probably, yes,” the Admiral sighed, rubbing his temples and turning to face the El. “A Kor’O should indeed have command of the reinforcement fleet. That is why I drafted these.”
Reaching into the folds of his uniform, the Admiral drew out a sealed scroll, turning to face the Captain and holding it out.
“Promotion papers, my last act as Admiral. They’re for you, old friend.”
“There cannot be more than one O in this fleet and you know that, these papers…” the El began.
“Have already been ratified by High Command, and counter-signed by over three hundred captains of the fleet,” the O cut in. “They want someone to follow, they know I’m getting on in years, that it won’t be long before I go to serve the Greater Good in the Great Beyond. I will not go peacefully in my bed, I am a man of war, I wish for my final moments to be on this bridge. She’s a good ship, I hope that you find one as good when you have command of the Pa’Laa fleet.”
“You don’t have to do this, you still have years left in you.”
“But no greater battle,” the Admiral smiled for the first time since the war meeting, laying a hand on the now O’s shoulder. “Where else would I rather die, than in the battle that shall decide the fate of our entire Sept? I do not envy you, Admiral. When the dust clears from this war, and we stand victorious amongst the stars, you will consider the great darkness, and know that whatever death may await you, your greatest battle will be here.”
“Then I will endeavour to prove you wrong,” the second Admiral smiled back, placing his own hand on the older Admirals shoulder. “When we meet again, I will tell you stories of a greater battle than you can ever conceive.”
“That’s the spirit,” the Admiral laughed. “Now, to the shuttle bay with you. Your new command awaits.”
***
“The Tau fleet has split into two,” the Fleet Master indicated runes on the map of the Darik system. “The smaller of the two has been left to guard the world, the rest has travelled to the neighbouring system of Fasturn, presumably in an attempt to flank us or to come upon our rear whilst we are attacking the world. I have already taken the liberty of sending some ships to break up the fleet, I have set plans into motion to break them for their hubris.”
“You are tasked with keeping them occupied while we search the planet then, Fleet Master, I leave the engagement in your hands,” Rainbow nodded. “I doubt that this will be as quick as some of our conquests, but we shall still wipe this pathetic planet clean of the Tau filth. When do we break from the Webway?”
“Ten cycles, Succubus,” the Fleet Master bowed.
“Good, then I will allow you to dictate the fleets actions, I shall take charge of the boarding teams. Send me a report of your plans, but you have my leave to run the engagement as you see fit. If you fail me, I will ensure your pain nourishes the entire fleet.”
“Yes, Succubus, it will be done.”
Rainbow stalked out of the bridge before the fleet master had finished speaking, Gilda following behind her, the pair already garbed and ready for battle, and eager to taste the blood of Tau once more.
***
Hundreds of hulks littered the void around Darik. Frozen corpses spun lifelessly, bouncing off the shields of the Dark Eldar vessels that were even now pushing their way through the wreckage of the battle towards the planet. The battle had been over in a scant few hours, the Tau had been outnumbered many times over, their ships were slower, their weapons were shorter ranged, and their shields were brutish things, relying on pouring power into a physical barrier, rather than the shadowfields and mimic engines the Dark Eldar made use of.
Only one ship remained intact, a great Battleship floating in orbit around the planet, all signs of life absent from an external glance. During the battle it had been struck by multiple leach torpedoes, each one draining power from the ship, until it was left without teeth or motion, without ever even firing a shot.
“Ready the boarding teams,” Rainbow grinned, looking at the terrified slave crew manning the controls, and the pair of Wyches standing behind them. “But only my party is to be transported to the bridge, the others can take whatever slaves they want from the rest of the vessel.”
“Y-Yes, mighty Succubus,” the slave stammered. “R-Right away.”
Rainbow licked her freshly filed teeth in anticipation as the world faded from around her. For an instant she felt absolute, blissful agony as she was pushed through the Webway, before she stepped out onto the Tau vessel. The knife in her left claw severed the throat of one Tau before anyone even knew they were under attack, followed swiftly by a second and third felled by a blaster shot as Gilda stepped through the Webway tear.
Unlike Rainbow, Gilda hadn’t enjoyed the pain, but she still fought like a daemon, ripping out throats of Kroot who dared to stray too close while blasting Fire Warriors to slag with her blasters. Rainbow had another prize in mind however, and dived forward, grabbing hold of the Admiral of the fleet and driving him to the floor.
“Such a shame you’re not a human,” she snarled, other Dark Eldar following her lead and forgoing the use of weapons as they dived to take the captives alive. “At least they may have had some skill with a blade. You don’t even carry one. You’re pathetic.”
“I…” The Admiral started, but Rainbow struck first, deftly grabbing his tongue with one claw, before slicing it off with a single talon.
The Admiral let out a wordless scream as he thrashed beneath Rainbow, blood pooling in his mouth.
“Your words aren’t required, Admiral, no knowledge you have is worth anything to. But don’t worry, you won’t die, not this time. I guess you could call this a merciful stay of execution, but I doubt that your kind would thank me for this.”
Rainbow turned to the other Dark Eldar, looking around as the bridge crew were almost effortlessly subdued, before raising her voice.
“Secure the slaves here, then spread out in the rest of the ship. Any you find there are yours to do with as you wish, but any on this deck are mine. If I find any have been taken then the one who attempted to defy me will join their ranks.”
Rainbow didn’t need a response, and the Dark Eldar didn’t give any, the last few newly captured slaves being bound with barbed chains, before their captors disappeared deeper into the ship.
Placing one claw around the admirals neck, Rainbow flicked on her communications, making sure to broadcast the sound for all the Tau to hear.
“Fleet Master, are our ships in position around the Fasturn star?”
The Admirals eyes went wide as he recognised the system name as where his fleet was ‘hiding’, the terror that rolled off him delicious, even Gilda seeming to relish in it as she stood beside Rainbow.
“They are, Succubus, and have not been detected. The fleet has not broken anchor, and will not be able to jump away before it is too late. Shall I deploy Obsidian Hand?”
“Do it, wipe them from the face of the galaxy,” Rainbow leered, looking down at the Admiral. “Did you know that the Kabal of the Dying Sun claims it can destroy stars, and by extension, entire systems? I didn’t believe it at first, but it seems that all they need is some technology from before the fall of the Eldar. Now, maybe the Dying Sun have more of this technology than I do, but I only needed one Hand.”
The Admirals eyes filled with tears as Rainbow spoke, Rainbow drinking in the pain rolling off of everyone from the bridge.
“As an Admiral, I am sure you know what would happen to a fleet of Tau vessels if the star of the system they were in suddenly went critical, and became a Supernova? My vessels can utilise the Webway to escape, yours cannot. Darik will not have the reinforcements you hinged your plan upon. You should have mustered your fleet, maybe then you would have had a chance to stall me.”
The Admiral let out a wail as Rainbow and Gilda began to pick up the chains binding their slaves, preparing to take them back to the fleet for the next stage of the plan.
***
“The fleet didn’t even last the day,” Applejack breathed softly, looking over the screens as losses were displayed for the remainder of the Pa’Laa High Command. “Have we heard anything from the Fasturn contingent of the fleet?”
“Nothing so far,” one of the Air Caste adjutants responded quickly. “There have been stellar phenomena’s in recent months that have been affecting long range communication speeds, and the system is many light years away, we do not have a proper ftl communications hub set up in that system yet.”
“How long until we can expect to hear word from them, or for them to hear a broadcast from us?” Aun’Vesa asked.
“Three days, maybe five at the most, mighty Ethereal,” the adjutant replied. “If we broadcast now, and they receive it quickly, they could be with us before the weeks end.”
“Send the signal then,” Aun’Vesa nodded. “We will want the fleet back here as soon as possible to catch our foes unaware.”
“As long as she took the bait,” Juhani huffed.
“Just so,” Aun’Vesa nodded. “Now, if…”
Aun’Vesa was cut off as a mechanical scream cut through the command centre, growing louder to the point of pain, a few of the Vespid letting out screams as their sensitive eardrums burst in welts of blood. Then, just as Applejack thought her own ears were going to burst, the sound started to recede, eventually fading completely.
“What…was that?” Applejack panted, before looking at a Fire Warrior who stumbled into the command room.
“Honoured…commanders, you should come outside. You need to see this.”
Staggering after the Fire Warrior, Applejack surveyed the scene outside that had moments before been peaceful, the calm before the storm of the coming war. Now, it was littered with bodies of the Tau, blood pooling around them, indicating that they’d been dropped from a great height, and from the looks on what was left on most of their faces, they had not been dead before they hit the ground.
“Bastards,” Applejack swore, not caring that both Aun’Vesa and Aun’Nan were right beside her. “Those…fuckin’…bastards.”
“Shas’O! We have a survivor!” A Fire Warrior called out, drawing Applejacks eye towards a metal spike that had seemingly been shot into the ground. Lashed to it was a brutalised Tau, his tongue and eyes having been ripped out, and hundreds of cuts crisscrossing his body from where the razor-wire that he was bound with had cut into his body. Even so ruined however, it was still unmistakable as the Kor’O.
“Get the Admiral inside, now,” Applejack grunted, her organic eye darkening with rage. “I swear on everythin’ or anythin’ that may be listenin’, ah am gonna see Rainbow answer for this murder. Shas’El, prepare the Fire Caste, Rainbow’s struck the first blow, ah think its about time we struck back.”
So, sorry for the incredibly long Hiatus, one problem after another IRL. They have been addressed now, and I should be able to get back to writing now, may take some time to get back into the full swing of things as I seem to have lost most of my planning documents. I hope that they are on my memory stick at my parents, but I will have to see at Christmas.
Until then, I guess I'll just go from memory and whatever else I can find 
Anyway, hope you enjoy
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
605 users online
950,688 hits today, 2,782,760 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
but any on this deck our mine
preparing to take them back to the fleet for the next stage of the plan.”
its about time we struck back.” ve it quickly,;�X��
1. Are.
2. Extra quotation mark.
3. Uhh... what happened here? Some sort of command scripting error or something?
8552749
Should be fixed, no idea what went on with the last part :P
I don't think that is supposed to be there.
8552756
Should have been fixed
Well that was fucked, can't wait for the Rainbow/Applejack confrontation. Rainbow's entire reason was to 'save' Applejack, but now AJ wants nothing more but to make RD pay. Wonder how she'll take it? Probably not well considering...
Looking forward to the rest!
ah... feels so good to indulge thyself in this story again
It's about time I got to read the last chapter. :P
/
meeting. Maybe next chapter? Hopefully soon. 
Can't wait for the